Apparatus for cutting off lengths of glass tubing



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 T. KIRALY a o a L a a MN. 518 .la 38: mm a8 3 a? o E 29 -32 3 88 T Dec. 17, 1963 APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OFF LENGTHS OF GLASSTUBING Original Filed April 9, 1957 T. KlRALY 3,

APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OFF LENGTHS 0F GLASS TUBING Dec. 17, 1963 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed April 9, 1957 INVENTOR;

Dec. 17, 1963 T. KlRALY 3,114,621

APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OFF LENGTHS 0F GLASS TUBING INVENTOR. 41a! BY Wm.W

United States Patent 3,114,621 APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OFF LENGTHS 0FGLASS TUBING Tiber Kiraly, 8 Ham Kalman-Utca, Budapest, Hungary Originalapplication Apr. 9, 1957, Ser. No. 651,754, now

Patent No. 2 ,993,304, dated July 25, 1961. Divided and appllgation June29, 1959, Ser. No. 823,455

Claims priority, application Hungary Apr. 13, 1956 3 Claims. (Cl.65-272) Thisinvention relates to apparatus for cutting off predetermined lengths of glass tubing.

For this purpose there has been proposed an a paratus provided withclamping jaws pulling; the tubing continuously fed from a glass furnace,with a burner to heat the tubing at a certain point thereon to atemperature high enouigh so that a fast temperature change occurs whensaid point is engaged by a cold cracking tool and severance occurs.

The main dis-advantage of this apparatus consists in false breaks andgreat amount of chipping. The ends of the severed tubings show unevenedges which have to undergo a treatment in separate machines in order toreduce the length of the severed tubing to a predetermined value and toround ofi the edges. Thereby the prime costs are increased andproductiveness lowered.

The principal object of my invention, generally con sidered, is toprovide apparatus to out off lengths of vitreous tubing, especially formaking envelopes for fluorescent lamps, accurately and without crackingso that they can be used without further trimming and cutting.

Another object of mydnvention is to provide a carriage supporting aws,means for causing the carriage to travel along with tubing, lengths ofwhich are to be cut off, a burner for softening the glass at the pointwhere severage is desired and means adapted to stretch the softenedsection of the heated tubing until severance occurs.

It is another object of this invention to provide means adapted to movethe burner during stretching of the tubmg with a velocity equal to thevelocity of the point of the tubing where severance of the tubing isdesired.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a glass cutter easyto use and which eliminates false breaks and chipping.

A further object of the invention is to provide glass cutting apparatusincorporating means for accurately measuring and positioning the glasstubing to be cut and also having adjustable means for engaging thetubing and positioning the same so that any number of pieces of the samesize may be cut successively after a single adjustment of the apparatus.

Still another object of the invention is the provision in glass cuttingapparatus of means adapted to cut glass tubing having very smallwall-thickness such as tubings for the manufacture of ampoules fortherapeutic solutions.

Further objects of the invention and advantages thereof will best beunderstood by reference to the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings and its scope will be pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawing in which like parts are indicated by like referencenumerals:

FIG. 1a is a side elevational view of the right part of an apparatus[for practicing my invention.

FIG. 1b is a side elevational view of the left part of the apparatusshown in FIG. 1a, the two parts forming an entirety and incorporatingone embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 2a is a horizontal view of the right part of the apparatus as shownin FIG. 1a. The mechanisms arranged on the bases 24 and 38 have beenomitted in FIG. 2a.

FIG. 2b is a horizontal view of the left part of the apparatus shown inFIG. 1b.

H6. 3 is a partial, cross sectional view taken along the line Ill-III ofHG. la, on a greater scale.

FIG. 4 is a partial, side elevational view of the mechanism mounted onbase 24.

Referring to the drawing in detail there is provided a table or support1 the upper edge of which forms a track 3 on which rests a carriage 2supported on preferably four wheels 4. The carriage 2 is moved to andfro along said track 3 by means of the tube pulling machine 5, chainwheel 6, chain 7, chain wheel 8 secured on a shaft 9, bevel gearing lband chain wheels ll and 12 (FIG. 3) provided on the tracks 3 and drivingan endless chain 13. Fixed on the end-less chain 13 there is a catch 14engaging with a transverse slot 15 (-FIG. 3) provided in the frame ofthe carriage 2. This transverse slot 15 in the frame of the carriage 2allows the catch 14 to shift from one side of the driving chain 13 tothe other while it is running around the outer parts of the wheels 10and ll. The transmission ratio of the drive described above should bechosen so that the velocit of the catch l4 and thereby that of thecarriage 2 be equal to the velocity of the oncoming tubing during themovement of the carriage 2 to the left, i.e. when both the carriage 2and the tubing H are moving in the same direction. Fixed on a base 24there is a hollow bea'nng member 29 and rotatably mounted in it a hollowdrum 16. The base 24 is slidably arranged upon a dovetail guide 25provided on the carriage 2 and is constantly drawn towards an abutment26 on said base 24 by means of sprin s 27, 23 (FIG. 2a). On thefrontside of said drum 16 there is mounted a ring burner 17 whichdirects gas-flames l3 radially inward (FIG. 3). The tubing 19 comingfrom the tube pulling machine 5 passes through a funnel 20 provided atthe rear part of the drum 16, through the drum l6 and the ring burner'17 all these parts being arranged coaxially and connected rigidly toone another.

Base 24, which supports burner 17, is designated as the first support oncarriage 2. During reciprocation of the carriage 2,, drum 116 is rotatedby means of a metal rope 21 (FIG. 4) one end of which is resilientlyattached to the support 1 by means of a spring 22., the other end to theframe 1 by means of a hook 2-3. The middle part of the metal rope 21 iswound around the drum .16 and guided by means of rollers 39 rotatablymounted on the carriage. Gas is supplied to the ring-burner from asupply valve 36 by means of a flexible hose 31 guided along guiderollers 32 and 33 rotatably arranged in brackets 34 and 35 respectively.From the roller 33 the hose 31 passes to a hose-drum 36 fixed on or madeintegral with the drum 16 where it is alternately wound up and offaccording to the sense of rotation of the drum 16. The gas passes fromthe hose 31 through a tube 1% arranged in the drum 16 to a ring-burner17. The ring burner 17 is fixed on a flange 37 of the drum 16. The hose31 is counterbalanced by a balance weight 53.

The carriage also supports a second base 38 slidably guided on thedovetail 25 provided upon the carriage 2. This base 38 supports a pairof clamping jaws '40 and t1 pivctally mounted as indicated at 42. laws40 and 41 are interconnected by means of a tension spring 43 and arecaused to move together by intermeshing segmental gears 44 and 45,whereby spring 43 and gears 4-4, 4-5 are arranged outside the path ofthe tubing 19. Gears 44 and 45 are mounted on frame 50, which is part ofbase 38. The lever t6 carrying the upper jaw 46 extends rearwardly andthe extending end 47 of said lever 46 cooperates with a cam '48 fixedlyconnected to a bent lever 49 pivotally mounted on frame 50 as indicatedat 5.1. Cam 48 is self-locking and releases only at the end of thebackward travel of the carriage 2. Then jaws 4t 41 are urged 3 oneagainst the other by means of the spring 43 in order to grip the tubing.At the end of the running ahead of the carriage 2 lever 49 cooperateswith an inclined guide 94 provided on a longitudinal girder 52 of theframe 1. Base 38, which carries jaws 4t} and 41, is designated as thesecond support on carriage 2.

A second bent lever is pivotally mounted on the carriage 2 as indicatedat 54 (FIG. 2a). The end of the lower arm 55 of this lever is by meansof a tie 56 connected to the second support or base 38 and the middlepart of the lever by means of a tie 57 to the first support or base 24.The upper arm 58 of said bent lever 55, 58 cooperates with a guide 59fixed on the side of the track 3 (FIG. 1a).

In order to remove the cut tubing from the apparatus described abovethere are provided two rollers 60 and 61, each one at the outer end ofbrackets 62 and 63, respectively, the brackets being pivotally mountedas indicated at 64 and 65 respectively. The rollers 60 and 61 are causedto rotate in opposite directions by interrneshing gears 66 and 67, saidgears 66 and 67 being driven by means of a chain wheel 68 fixed on theshaft 9, chain 69, chain wheel 70 and chains 71 and 72 respectively(FIG. 2a). The peripheral speed of the rollers 60 and 61 must be greaterthan the velocity of the tubing 19.

Gear 67, driven by means of the wheel 70 and chain 69, is rigidlyconnected to or integral with a chain wheel 101, rotates a chain wheel103 secured on a shaft 102 (FIG. 2a). Roller 61 rotates together withthe chain wheel 103. Bracket 63 holding the roller 61 is integral with asleeve 104 rotatably arranged on the shaft 65. Roller 60 is likewisearranged on the shaft 114. Sleeve 104 is provided with a segmental gear105 intermeshing a second segmental gear 106 controlling the bracket 62.In the position shown in FIG. 1a, the gears 105 and 106 hold the rollers66 and 61 in the open position, against spring 107. On the carriage 2there is arranged a guide rail 74 and on the sleeve 104 a lever 73 witha stop 110 pivotally mounted on the lever 73 as indicated at 108 andheld in the shown position by means of a spring 169. Roller 111,provided at the free end of the stop 110, engages at the end of therunning ahead of the carriage 2 the lower edge of the guide rail 74. Bythese means the cut-off tubing 19 is resiliently clamped and removed bythe rollers 60 and 61 after releasing of the jaws 40 and 41.

The cut-off tubings must be transported from the carriage 2 (as shown onFIG. lb and FIG. 2b) to horizontally arranged supporting arms 75 and 7 6fixed on the frame 112 of the apparatus said frame being fixed on thetracks 3. For this purpose there are provided two rotatable rollers 77and 78 supporting an endless belt 79. Shaft 80 of the roller 78 isdriven by means of the chain 69 and a chain wheel 81 fixed on the shaft80. In order to transport the tubing conveyed by the belt 79 in thedirection of the arrow 82 onto the supporting arms 75 and 76 there isprovided a swingable shaft 83 having at each end a peg 84 and 85,respectively, so arranged that the pegs underlie the cut-off tubing 86oncoming upon the belt 79. The shaft 83 with the pegs 84 and is operatedby means of a setting arm 87 fastened on the carriage 2. The free end 88of the arm 87 is downwardly sloping and cooperates with a cam 89provided at the end of the shaft 83. As carriage 2 moves to the left,cam 89 rides upwardly upon arm end 88, thereby tilting pegs 84 and 85 sothat the tubing rolls to the broken line position of FIG. 2b.

The apparatus for cutting off lengths of tubings described aboveoperates as follows:

The tubing 19 is fed continuously from the tube pulling machine 5 in thedirection of the arrow 96 to the cut off apparatus. The carriage 2 is inits right hand end position partly shown with dotted lines 20 in FIG.la. In this position lever 49' engages an inclined guide 92 provided onthe longitudinal girder 52 and the clamping jaws 40 and 41 are therebyforced towards each other and grip the tubing 19 which still has passedthrough the funnel 20, drum 16 and ring-burner 17. The apparatus is soadjusted that the ring-burner 17 is spaced from the free end of thetubing the distance corresponding with the length of tubing to be cut.Catch 14 is moving towards the other end of the slot 15 and pulls thecarriage in the direction of the arrow 90. The part of tubing 19 lyingin the burner is heated and begins to soften. During the moving of thecarriage 2 ahead funnel 20, drum 16 and ring-burner 17 are by means ofthe metal rope 21 rotated in a clockwise direction viewed from the sideof funnel 20. Thus a ring-shaped section of the tubing 19 lying insidethe ring-burner is homogeneously heated and softened. At a predeterminedtime which depends upon the velocity of the movement of the carriage 2roller 113 leaves section 112a of guide 59 and engages section 95 of theguide 59. While running along said section 95 of the guide 59 the lowerarm 56 of the bent lever 55, 58 pushes the base 38 along its guide 25 inthe direction of the arrow 91) and pulls the base 24 in the samedirection but somewhat slower. I prefer to choose the distances betweenthe linking points 54 and '96 and 54 and 97 respectively, so that duringstretching of the softened part of the tubing lying in the flames of thering-burner 17 the speed of base 24 carrying said burner to about thehalf of the speed of base 38 carrying the clamping jaws 4t), 41. Thusthe ring-burner will always be positioned at the middle of the softenedsection of the tubing. As in this phase of the process the speed of thetubing 86 to be cut off is greater than the speed of the remaining partof the tubing 19 the softened section of the tubing will be stretched,the wall-thickness of this section of the tubing diminishes and meltingthoroughly tubing 86 and tubing 19 part from each other. Simultaneouslythe edges of the two parts separated from each other will be shaped bythe flames of the burner 17. During the return stroke of carriage 2,when roller 1'13 engages section 95 and then sections 112 of guide 59,springs 27 and 28 pull base 24 back until it engages stop 26 providedupon carriage 2, the links 57 and 56 and lever 55 simultaneouslyrestoring base 38 to its initial position.

Lever 49 engages guide 94 whereupon the clamping jaws 40, 41 release thecut off tubing 86 which is transported by means of the rollers 60, 61pressed to the tubing by the guide 74, stop and roller 111 and rotatedat a greater peripheral speed than the speed of the tubing 19. Thecut-off tubing 86 is transporated by means of the endless belt 79 untilit engages stop 99, whereupon tubing 86 is removed upon the arms 75 and76 by the pegs 84 and 85 operated by the free end 88 of the setting arm87.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown, it willbe understood that the invention is not limited thereto since manymodifications may be made and it is, therefore, contemplated to cover bythe appended claims any such modifications as fall within the spirit andscope of the invention.

Reference is made to my co-pending application Serial No. 651,754, filedApril 9, 1957, now Patent No. 2,993,- 304, patented July 25, 196 1, ofwhich this is a division.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for cutting off lengths of vitreous tubing comprising meansfor conveying said tubing longitudinally forwardly, a carriage mountedfor longitudinal reciprocal movement in the path of the tubing, meansfor reciprocating the carriage, a first support on said carriage, aburner on said first support, a second support on said carriage in frontof said first support, clamping jaws on said second support and movablebetween opening and closing positions, said tubing being adapted toextend through said burner and said jaws, said supports beinglongitudinally reciprocally slidable relative to said carriage, meansfor respectively reciprocating said supports, and actuating means forfirst closing said jaws clampingly on said tubing while said carriage ismoving forwardly and for then moving said supports forwardly relative tosaid carriage with said second support moving faster than said firstsupport.

2. Apparatus for cutting off lengths of vitreous tubing comprising meansfor conveying said tubing longitudinally forwardly, a carriage mountedfor longitudinal reciprocal movement in the path of the tubing, meansfor reciprocating the carriage with the forward movement of the carriagebeing at the same speed as the speed of movement of the tubing, a firstsupport on said carriage, a ringshaped burner on said first support,means for rotating said burner about its axis, a second support on saidcarriage in front of said first support, clamping jaws on said secondsupport and movable between opening and closing positions, said tubingbeing adapted to be extended through said burner and said jaws, saidsupports being longitudinally reciprocally sl-idable relative to saidcarriage, means for respectively reciprocating said supports in the samesense with the forward speed of said second support being approximatelytwice the forward speed of said first support, and actuating meanscoupled to the means for reciprocating the carriage for first closingsaid jaws clampingly on said tubing while said carriage is movingforwardly and after a time interval permitting soften ing of said tubingby said burner, for then moving said supports forwardly relative to saidcarriage.

3. Apparatus for cutting off lengths of vitreous tubing comprising meansfor conveying said tubing longitudinally forwardly, a carriage mountedfor longitudinal reciprocal movement in the path of the tubing, meansfor reciprocating said carriage, a first support on said carriage, aring-shaped burner rotatably mounted on said first support, a secondsupport on said carriage in front of said first support, clamping jawson said second support and movable between opening and closingpositions, said tubing being adapted to be extended through said burnerand said jaws, said suports being longitudinally reciprocally slidablein the same sense of movement relative to said carriage, the speed ofthe rearward stroke of movement 6 of said carriage and the position ofsaid clamping jaws being such that the leading end of the tubing isreceived between said clamping jaws at approximately the end of therearward stroke of movement of said carriage, means including first cammeans on said frame positioned and adapted to close said jaws clampinglyon the front end of said tubing at the end of the rearward stroke ofsaid carriage and to hold said jaws clamped during forward movement ofsaid carriage, the forward movement of said carriage being at the speedof tubing movement, said burner being adapted to soften the ringshapedsection of the tubing lying inside the ring burner during the initialtime of forward movement of the carriage, means including second cammeans drivingly coupled to said first support and said second supportfor then moving said second support and said first support forwardlyrelatively to said carriage with said second support moving at twice thevelocity of said first support to keep said burner centered on thesoftened portion of said tubing while moving the tubing segment locatedforwardly of the softened section more rapidly than the tubingrearwardly of the softened section, whereby to stretch the softenedportion of the tubing until the tubing separates, means including thirdcam means on said frame positioned and adapted for then moving said jawsto unclamping position, and means including said second cam means forthen returning said first and second supports to their initial position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,215,980 Schreiber Sept. 24, 1940 2,221,788 Doyle Nov. 19, 19402,393,979 Everett Feb. 5, 1946 2,521,352 Dockerty et a1. Sept. 5, 19502,603,038 McGowan July 15, 1952 2,728,447 Ware Dec. 27, 1955 2,776,048Friedman Ian. 1, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 685,758 France July 17, 1930

1. APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OFF LENGTHS OF VITREOUS TUBING COMPRISING MEANSFOR CONVEYING SAID TUBING LONGITUDINALLY FORWARDLY, A CARRIAGE MOUNTEDFOR LONGITUDINAL RECIPROCAL MOVEMENT IN THE PATH OF THE TUBING, MEANSFOR RECIPROCATING THE CARRIAGE, A FIRST SUPPORT ON SAID CARRIAGE, ABURNER ON SAID FIRST SUPPORT, A SECOND SUPPORT ON SAID CARRIAGE IN FRONTOF SAID SUPPORT, CLAMPING JAWS ON SAID SECOND SUPPORT AND MOVABLEBETWEEN OPENING AND CLOSING POSITIONS, SAID TUBING BEING ADAPTED TOEXTEND THROUGH SAID BURNER AND SAID JAWS, SAID SUPPORTS BEINGLONGITUDINALLY RECIPROCALLY SLIDABLE RELATIVE TO SAID CARRIAGE, MEANSFOR RESPECTIVELY RECIPROCATING SAID SUPPORTS, AND ACTUATING MEANS FORFIRST CLOSING SAID JAWS CLAMPINGLY ON SAID TUBING WHILE SAID CARRIAGE ISMOVING FORWARDLY AND THEN MOVING SAID SUPPORTS FORWARDLY RELATIVE TOSAID CARRIAGE WITH SAID SECOND SUPPORT MOVING FASTER THAN SAID FIRSTSUPPORT.